Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!ihnp1!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxr!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxd!rlr From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: Re: philosophy Message-ID: <1364@pyuxd.UUCP> Date: Wed, 31-Jul-85 12:31:11 EDT Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1364 Posted: Wed Jul 31 12:31:11 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Aug-85 01:40:30 EDT References: <2438@mit-hermes.ARPA> Organization: Whatever we're calling ourselves this week Lines: 30 > Could I suggest to the > "free willers" that if they want to defuse Rich Rosen's opposition, they > should just follow his demands and use different terminology? Calling > the object of inquiry "uncoerced choice" instead of "free will" would not > give Rich any reason to drag out his dictionary definitions. > - > Chris Roberson > Calhoun College, Yale University I must be a horrible person for trying to ensure that when two people use a term in a conversation, they are both talking about the same thing. Bad, bad Rich! No more dragging out definitions, instead I'll talk about free will (using, not the meaning I've understood which seems to be a meaning shared with dictionary definitions and philosophical systems, but my own meaning, "hot fudge sauce"), and Paul (or someone else) can talk about free will (using their definition that describes something entirely different), and we can both "agree" that free will exists. Then, they can use their definition of god (a supreme being which created the universe) and I can use mine (a shoebox with a bright red stripe along the side), and we can again both "agree" that god exists. Next, I can apply the word "unicorn" to apply to ALL horses, and "prove" that unicorns exist... No wonder philosophers can't agree on anything. They have no idea what the next philosopher is talking about. Perhaps they could learn a little something about rigorous definition before engagin in discussion or analysis. Two people can't analyze a phenomenon and come to conclusions if they're both operating on different notions of what the phenomenon is. -- Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen. Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr